Egypt/ 7. Public institutions in cultural infrastructure

7.2 Basic data about selected public institutions in the cultural sector

In the framework of developing cultural institutions, the development of museums is only visible since it is the most noticeable field.

This situation is may contributed to the attention dedicated by the Ministry of Culture to Egypt's rich and diverse historical heritage (Pharaonic, Byzantine, Jewish, Coptic, Islamic and contemporary) and also to the fact that antiquities are being invested as a tourist commodity.

The High Council for Antiquities recently conducted a comprehensive inventory in order to modernize and build 59 museums and archeological warehouses in all governorates, in addition to developing and restoring 14 archeological sites in southern and northern Egypt. The exact figures are as follows:

The number of existing museums developed (4).

The number of new museums built (5).

The number of existing museums under development (5).

The number of new museums under construction (almost complete) (8).

Future museum projects (4).

Restoration works

The number of archeological sites restored (9).

The number of archeological sites under restoration (5).

Restoration of Coptic and Islamic sites

The number of completed projects (26).

The number of projects underway (13).

The number of archeological warehouses built and provided with the latest preservation equipment and technologies has now reached 35 warehouses till this day.

in 2006, The Supreme Council of Antiquities decided to name these museums after Egyptologists, there has been a lot of concerns and warnings of these places mismanagement repeated thefts.

A modern system has also been developed in the field of archeology and underwater antiquities to explore areas in the Mediterranean and Red Sea by using the latest equipment to help unveil new discoveries and conduct researches (+).

In addition, many museums are now dedicating more attention to cultural development by providing children with extracurricular activities inside their halls to develop their historical knowledge and boost their belongingness to their roots.

The Egyptian Museum in Cairo is preparing to compete with the best museums in the world after signing an agreement with Italy to redesign its display system with a cost of 1.3 million Euros.

In his last statement concerning the new museum, the Egyptian Minister of Culture said that the Big Egyptian Museum scheduled to be opened in 2011 will be an archeological marvel.[1] (See Chapter 2: 2.2)

But the museum has yet to open and there is no updates to the cooperation agreement . in December 2012 dr. Mohammed Ibrahim , Minister of Antiquities Announced that a research is being conducted in an attempt to develop the Egyptian Museum , this plan will include an internal overhaul by changing the halls internal design and lighting system, the external modification will be to attempt joining the land of NDP to be part of the museum garden.

The ambitious plans in now in place for " the Grand Egyptian Museum " , a project to build a large museum by the Alexandria desert highway, the plans were announced by Dr. Mohammed Ibrahim , Minister of Antiquities , to open in 2015 , after commiting to a 40 months timetable.

There is an agreement in place between the Ministry and a Japanese party to start financing the project with a Japanese loan provided by the Foundation « JICA » until Egypt’s financial returns of tourism revenue is back in effect.

On August 30 2014, governor of Giza Dr. Ali Abdel Rahman made a statement announcing the delay of opening the Grand Egyptian Museum until 2017 in view of a funding shortfall of up to $800 million.